Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help people protect their (a) business and (b) personal credit ratings during the covid-19 outbreak.

Payment holidays can be a feature of business or consumer lending products or can be offered by lenders in exceptional circumstances outside of the customer’s control. This covers a multitude of potential scenarios.. Where payment holidays as a result of COVID-19 are agreed with a lender, we would expect lenders to ensure that taking a payment holiday should not impact credit scores. Ministers and officials are working closely with industry to protect businesses and consumers from harm during these unprecedented times.

The UK is well prepared to tackle COVID-19. On Tuesday 17 March the Chancellor announced that as the wider economic picture becomes clearer, the government would do whatever it takes to get our nation through the impacts of COVID-19 and that he stands ready to announce further action wherever necessary.